By:Cheryl K. (Sherry in GA)
I love scrapbooking and have been hooked ever since I did my first layout in July of 1998. I didn't know anything about scrapbooking until I found the dMarie site. Someone on another board had posted a list of scrapbooking sites and mentioned that dMarie was their favorite, so I checked it out first. When I saw the great layouts, I knew that this was something I wanted to do and I immediately posted a question to the board asking for recommendations on the supplies I'd need to get started. After receiving several very helpful responses I placed my first order with dMarie, and as soon as I got my supplies I did my first layout and have been hooked ever since!

I've always loved to take photos and have a bookshelf full of pocket albums full of photos all organized in chronological order and labelled with the names and dates, so my motivation for doing this is not to get my photos out of unsafe environments and labelled, but to make them more fun and interesting to look at. I like being able to arrange the photos creatively so that they grab your attention and make you want to know the story behind the photos and I like being able to combine the photos with journalling to tell the stories so that the little details that made the event special, but that you can't see from just looking at the photos, won't be forgotten.

My children and my husband always love to see my new pages and they love to hear what I've written about them too. Sometimes we all sit down and look at the albums together and it's very satisfying to hear them ask me to read the pages to them and to hear them talking about which pages are their favorites. I also love knowing that because of these pages and the journalling that goes along with the photos, they will remember so many of the things we do together as a family that might otherwise be forgotten.

I spend a lot of time on most of my layouts, but I feel that it's time well spent. As with any other craft project, I get to have the fun of creating something that I can enjoy looking at and showing to others, but unlike other craft projects, the finished product is a priceless collection of our family's memories that we can enjoy over and over again as we look through the pages together. That's why I love Scrapbooking!